Network discovery tools are an important part of managing or administrating a network. They are utilized to scan for devices on the network within a specific IP range. Network discovery tools generally run on Local Area Networks (LANs), and other networks such as Wide Area Networks (WANs). WAN networks are typically used in geographically distributed networks. These tools are utilized to obtain information about all of the devices on the network. A network discovery tool can also alert you to rogue devices that are tapping into network resources, data leaks, and so forth. A LAN typically supports link speeds anywhere from 10 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s. A WAN typically supports link speeds anywhere from 128 Kbit/s to 1 Gbit/s. Prior art discovery tools either do not take into account bandwidth limitations, or set a global bandwidth limit for all networks.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved discovery tool.